_When I Am King_ juxtaposes the story of Joringel and Jorinda with a new story played by the same actors ten years later. In the children's story, Joringel tries to save Jorinda from a witch and ogre, while Jorinda is transformed into a bird. The young adult's story, which takes up a larger portion of the film (though it switches back and forth), features Jorge, a stable boy working for a kind smithy, rescuing Jorinda, a travelling dancer, from Sir Blackstone Hardtack, a cruel lord who enslaves people in violation of the law.